Mystery Fiction / A Hardy Boys Adventures Book Report

I've been away from my desk for a while ... please excuse my long absence from my blog. School can get busy you know. But I'm back 😁 ... with a book report  ( ☹ ) that's due tomorrow!!!

Mystery Fiction Assignment   

HARDY BOYS ADVENTURES

MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM HEIST

By: Franklin W. Dixon  

                                                                             

Summary

Imagine the excitement of two teenage boys solving crimes and mysteries. Franklin W. Dixon tells the story of two brothers, Frank and Joe Hardy who tried to solve a mystery about a gang that trashed their town of Bayport! It got a lot more interesting when the gang (who called themselves the “ScareDevils”) started vandalizing properties and set the Hardy boys’ garage ablaze! The brothers felt the pressure to solve this case quickly, because a girl who was targeted by the gang was worried about safety at her ‘sweet sixteen’ birthday party. It was supposed to be the biggest party that Bayport had ever seen and they suspected that the gang would attempt to sabotage it. Frank and Joe went undercover at the party and their suspicions were confirmed when they saw their main suspect gained access to the party and had a caused havoc with concealed weapons. The Hardy boys were able to stop the gang in time and the police arrived to arrest them.

Questions

Have you ever wondered how Franklin W. Dixon could write a series about two young detectives solving crimes in 1927, and still be writing the series in 2013, 86 years later? I found out that the original series was started by Edward Stratemeyer, and was continued by ‘ghost writers’ under the name of Franklin W. Dixon. That’s why the Hardy Boys series is published still today and the books are updated with new technology and up to date methods used by police and detectives. If I ever met the team of writers (aka Franklin W. Dixon) I would ask how they kept the tale of these characters alive and timeless. This book really was a great page turner! I wonder how the writers kept up the suspense throughout the book and the whole series, for that matter. With all those writers working together, I wonder how they narrowed their ideas down and agreed on how the plot would unfold.  

Connections

It might be hard for some people to believe that my great-great-grandfather bought the original collection of the Hardy Boys series and they have been passed down through the generations and still will! If I could talk to the 12 year-old version of my great-great grandfather, I would talk to him about the series. We could talk about how the writing style and word choice has changed over the decades. I would also talk to him about how a good Hardy Boy mystery is timeless. I have just finished reading The Tower Treasure (another book in an earlier series, circa 1959) and it was great! I though the language was interesting. For example, instead of the word 'friend' they would call each other 'chum'. After that book, I read "Mystery of the Phantom Heist" from the new series of the Hardy Boys Adventures (2013). In this book, there are far more examples of modern technology. For example, they describe a device in which you can hear whispers up to 100 feet away (pg. 43)! Also, there are sports cars and high speed boats! What kid would not find that interesting! Finally, they use cell phones to call in the police. I would trade places with the Hardy Boys any day of the week because I find it cool that they are solving mysteries. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series and read all of the Hardy Boys books.

My great and great-great grandfathers

Final Thoughts

If I were to rate this Mystery Fiction novel out of 10, I would
give it ...

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 stars!

I really enjoyed how the story developed throughout the book. It
is interesting to know that the group of authors can come
together, and shared ideas to create such a great series and
write under the name of Franklin W. Dixon.

If my friends and I were to get together and collaborate to write a
series, I suspect it would be a mystery fiction, similar to the
Hardy Boys adventures.

My Soccer Season : 2015

    

     You better believe that I LOVE soccer! I have been playing since I was four, out of the Russell Soccer Club. We play two times a week in June and July, but I wish I could play three times a week, ALL year long!

This year, I played U9 on the orange team, sponsered by Russellpro. My coach is great! Coach Rob is my best friend's dad and he is great coach because he runs great practises and gives good advice during the game.

Coach Rob and I

During a game, Coach Rob will say,

"Hustle!"

"Orange, take a (insert other team's colour) shirt!"

"Kick it up the field!"

"That's your ball, Orange!"

"Keep your eye on the ball! Run backwards, Orange!)

"Who's got it, Orange?"

"Shoot it!"

"Hustle!"  - He says that alot! It's good.

When he says, "Hustle!" he wants us to run our hearts out and challenge the other team for the ball. Coach Rob taught us how to pass, when to pass and where to pass. Something new that Coach Rob taught us this year is corner kicks. Corner kicks is when someone kicks the ball from the corner of the field, to the middle of the crease in front of the net. A good corner kick sets up your team for a goal.

My Ottawa Fury game pass.
I got this when I picked up my uniform.

My soccer season is over, but I've got plans for the rest of my summer vacation. Coach taught me some foot work that I need to improve on. I will continue to watch YouTube videos - OnlineSoccerAcademy.  Jared Montz has some good tips on how to improve your game. Finally, my family plans to see an Ottawa Fury home game. I would like to become a better soccer play for U10, next year.

These are the Ottawa Fury home games
that I can go to.

- Duncan

Medieval Festival 2015 : Osgoode Kingdom

     My family went to the 8th annual Osgoode Medieval Festival this weekend, and had a lot of fun!

This was a demonstration of daily life in Medieval times.
This guy was cooking chicken stew, and had just finished
making curds & whey.

When we first got to the Medieval Festival, I noticed that a lot of people had dressed up. There was someone dressed up as Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, the Sheriff of Nottingham, a King, many Knights, and people dressed up for Medieval daily life. I thought Friar Tuck's costume was pretty neat because he was carrying around a cup made from a hollowed bull horn. Someone (I'm pretty sure he was an outlaw) had a leather quiver and bow and many arrows. I have a trunk that my grandad made, full of costumes. It's so full, you can't close it. I wish that I'd worn a costume, but dad said that I would be too hot. I hope it's not too hot next year, so I can wear a costume too!

Dad bought my brother and I shields at the festival.

Here I am, protecting my brother from a dragon!

  

     Man, it was a hot afternoon and there was lots to see and experience at the Osgoode "Kingdom" Medieval festival. When we arrived, the trebuchet event was about to happen in the far field. Someone announced that it was once used to knock down castle walls. This trebuchet threw a rock across the field. We went to see the trebuchet up close and met a person named Matlock, who made arrows and he showed us the arrows that he made. There is a guy named Duncan, who also wants to make an arrow! That's for another blog post! Next, we went to a large model castle with a dress-up centre, a dungeon, a dining room and sleeping quarters. I thought the dungeon was realistic, but I wouldn't want to be in shackles!

 

My friend "skelly" is with me in the dungeon.

 

 Finally, there was a REAL jousting tournament with the Knights of Valour. The knights' names were (from A-Z) Sir Chaton, Sir Tiberius from Kanata (he won!) and Sir Zachary. It was the biggest event, and the last event of the day. After that, we were ready to come home and have popsicles and lots of water on the deck. I'm really excited for next year's festival!

 

 

Megalodon : A Genius Hour Project

     At school this year, my teachers decided to let us choose any topic of our choice to learn more about. They said it could be about ANYTHING we wanted to learn about, except violent topics. Once we learned more about our topic, we had to present it in some way. It could be a skit, slide show, game, model, presentation, etc. We could do it alone, or in a group (max of 3).

Some of my friends and I decided to research Megalodon. We chose Megalodon because Andrew (my good friend since kindergarten), told us about Megalodon at recess. Then we heard about Genius Hour and we decided to research Megalodon. There wasn't a lot of information about Megalodon in our library, so we used Wikipedia and You-Tube. We had a lot of "I WONDER" questions that we answered during our presentation.

We decided to present on a tri-fold board. I painted it to look like
you were looking up from the deep ocean.

We used our "I wonder" questions to form our paragraphs. This is a photo of how
 we brainstormed and organized ideas for the paragraphs.

  

I used the cue cards / paragraph planners, to create a layout on the
tri-fold presentation board.

  

The colour photos that I printed at the library were added to help create
the layout for our presentation. Once we were happy with how everything
fit on, we glued and taped the photos and paragraphs on.

  

We bought "scuba gear" for the presentation day, and planned
to wear our "swim gear" for amusement.

   

This is the big day! Note my friend's Megalodon model on
the right side. He made it out of cardboard boxes and
assembled it at school using tape.

 

Next is my part of the presentation on Megalodon. I used my "I wonder" questions as guidance to form my paragraphs. To get a level 4, I needed to write 3 paragraphs that were 7 sentences long. The information had to stay on topic and the spelling had to be pretty good. I found it hard to write the topic sentences until I found a "main-idea sentence starter" list that I could use. It was way easier to add my ideas to the paragraph after that!



 

What is a Megalodon?

 

     Try to visualize a shark way bigger than a whale. Let me fill you in on a shark called Megalodon. The word Megalodon actually means "big tooth". It's incredible that it had the biggest jaws of any animal that has ever been in my backyard! Megalodon's closest relative is the Great White Shark. It is rumoured that the Megalodon once roamed the world's oceans. Marine biologists believe that Megalodon lived millions of years ago and died along with the dinosaurs.

 

 

Could the Megalodon still be alive?

 

     For years, scientists have been finding evidence of Megalodon that once existed 2.6 million years ago. Did you realize that many people still wonder if Megalodon is extinct or elusive? Surprisingly, Discovery Channel has made a fake documentary about the existence of Megalodon being alive today. People were angry after learning it was fake because they wanted to know the truth about Megalodon and they wanted it to still be alive. There have been a lot of "sightings" of Megalodon around the world, in warm water. None of these sightings have been proven my marine biologists. Some people wonder if Megalodon could still be alive, but hiding in the deep and warm waters of the Mariana Trench. I would like it if Megalodon was still alive because then scientists would answer more of my unanswered questions.

 

 

Where are Megalodon teeth found?

 

      It is interesting to note that many Megalodon shark teeth have been discovered in a valley called Tooth Hill. Tooth Hill is a valley in southern California on the Pacific Ocean. It is also known as "Shark Tooth Hill" because a lot of shark teeth have been found there. Shark Tooth Hill is famous because there are a lot of fossils found there that belong to creatures who are extinct. People can visit Tooth Hill, but they need special permission to go digging around or to take important fossils or teeth. It's hard to believe, but there are many theories about why the marine animals died and their fossils are found there. Some believe that volcanoes erupted and the ash poisoned the creatures. Some believe that ocean water evaporated too quickly and the creatures got trapped and died. Some others believe that germs, bacteria or viruses killed the animals. I think Tooth Hill is an interesting place to excavate fossils.

 

We had a blast! Shark week is now on Discovery channel, and I`m getting really excited to learn more about these mysterious creatures!